Is it possible to reduce the width of a Hoverboard?

Need advice on how to reduce the width  of hoverboard. Its for school project and my group intends to use it to drive a wheelchair but currently it does not fit in between the back wheels of the wheelchair. Any suggestions on how to do it? Thanks!

@Cheryl‍ - Do you have any photos of your current setup? It'd help understand the problem. 

This is what the current setup looks like but it is not very stable and quite wobbly. The joints we made were 3D printed and cracked after a few times of testing. I would like for it to be more stable to drive the chair forward by directly mounting it to the rails at the back but the hoverboard is a little too wide to fit the width of the chair.

I'd not use a hover-board in first place. Perhaps a better approach would be to disassemble it and mount it on a shorter board. I've not had a chance to do it - but my best guess is that hover-boards have to maintain a certain width between the wheels to make it comfortable for the rider. 

Is disassembling the hover-board a possibility? 

I'd suggest reducing the distance between the wheel-chair and the board; that could however affect the overall movement. But you could try.

@Ramani‍ sir, do you have a suggestion? 

@Kaustubh‍, I agree totally. Why a hover board at all in the first place?

How is the hover function used?

It maybe an interesting concept for a hover chair. Here the chair doesn’t hover. Though an invalid may not much care for the out of balance feeling a hover craft (the small one) usually entails. As a source of motive power it would be quite inefficient. Much better to use an electric motor.

Not a good engineering concept.

If it is for the novelty, then a rigidising rod from the middle of the board to the middle of the bottom edge of the seat backrest might reduce the wobble. 

Here’s something from the other side of the table:

Hoverboards: why they haven't got off to a McFlying start

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/03/hoverboards-why-they-havent-got-off-to-a-mcflying-start

Yes i agree it might not be the best choice but we were on a budget constrain and figured that since the hoverboard motor was powerful enough to carry the weight of an average person and had the wheels, structure and internal circuitry it would be a good compromise. 

The hover function is not actually needed as it is supposed to be automated (the motors controlled via bluetooth from the arduino and bluetooth module attached). Just needed the motor, controller and the compact structure. but the mounting was a problem due to the width of the hoverboard.

Without any additional purchases, is the best option to dismantle it and mount it on a shorter board? Could it be possible to saw off a couple inches off the metal body inside?  

P.S. Thanks so much for the responses!!

I agree about the power pack. You can try rigidising by additional struts. Cutting or otherwise damaging the existing set up may be counterproductive. Try retaining as it is and attach extra supports.

Best of luck with the modifications. Whatever happens please post the results on CE for others to enjoy the efforts of a fellow CEan in a novel ( crazy?) activity.

Okay! We decided to try mounting onto a separate structure made of wood and make it to our desired dimensions that would fit. If that doesn't work out the original structure can still be used. Hopefully it will work! 

Thanks @Kaustubh‍, @Ramani‍! 

Nothing like the good old “cut and try”.

Could work.

@Cheryl‍ - please keep us posted about your progress. It'd be really great to see how this project gets developed. 

Okay! I will upload some pictures once I'm done building it! 

Here's what we've done so far!! have yet to test the electronics on this setup but looks promising and more stable than before

Interesting setup, @Cheryl . Where are you planning to house the batteries? I've use hovarboard only once and I'm curious to know if it's actually capable of driving the wheelchair with the user in place. Have you done the trials? 

For now, it looks like this. The battery is mounted on the first layer, followed by the motor drivers and then the arduino. 

We did some preliminary testing but the wheels seem to stall everytime, even when the speed is increased. When we lifted the chair a little it could move, so the chair might be too heavy for it. But i would assume the motor would be strong enough to at least move an empty chair since it is actually used on the hoverboard. 

We will keep testing to see what is the issue. We suspect the drivers might have been fried or shorted somehow.